Ring Leaders

Behind the scenes with the East London group redefining the world of women's wrestling

- Anna Walker

The rain-dampened crowd squeeze into the tiny Resistance Gallery, under the railway arches of Bethnal Green, and momentarily pause their excited chatter to turn their eyes stageward. Ducking under the ring, a woman dressed all in black with a bright pink Mohican clutches a microphone, and in an instant the crowd is spellbound as she dictates the rules of this self-professed “secret girl gang.”

“NO RACISM, NO sexism, no homophobia, no transphobia, no body shaming, no ableism, no anti-Semitism, no cat calling…” A quick glance at the surrounding throng and you might think you’ve stumbled into a metal night, but this diverse troop is gathered for something far more dramatic. This is a Pro-Wrestling: EVE event, an independent wrestling promotion founded by the mohicancrowned Emily Read and her husband Dann ten years ago. Regularly held from this intensely atmospheric East London venue, they’ve earned a dedicated fan base, who arrive ready to applaud, boo and sing their hearts out as their favourite baby faces and heels (that’s the good and bad guys to the uninitiated) storm the stage.

One of the star players of the night is a wrestler named Holidead. Wearing demonic face paint in which she could easily pass as the twelfth member of KISS, she writhes around, eyeing her opponent hungrily.

For Holidead, real name Camille Ligon, EVE is something of a sacred space. “I love that it’s just a come as you are kind of place, it welcomes all walks of life—and for someone like myself, that's paradise. I'm not the norm, and EVE isn't about anything cookie cutter. It’s a family environment for me, in the strangest way possible.”